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Leader (1850-1860), 13th December 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1188

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      until it shall "become a work of practical business ; This deliberation is thoroughly consistent with his character ; it has stultified all the idle reports which have been circulated respecting his aggressive projects . HYom our own knowledge of the inan , we were ahle at once to place the stamp of falsehood upon all those rumours ; we now refer with satisfaction to the altered views put forward by the correspondents even of once

      hostile journals , such as the New Yov 7 c 2 Terald , the London Times , and the Daily JSTews , as confirming the opinion which we uttered in the very midst of the prophetic storm against him / It does not at all follow that the Administration of the United States \ vill be more agreeable to Royal Governments , or less conducive to the extension of the Union , its power and prosperity . But in fact the true progress of the T 3 nited States

      is identical with the progress » of civilization on the other side of the Atlanf ; . ifc is identical ^ nth the material interests of the English people , and with the Teal opinions of the great majority of Our countrymen ; while those foreign . Governments which most sympathize wi *; , bBowning-street , have not conlerred ^ thr . greatest benefits on England or . syttrpatlr lZed most with English people .

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      ^ SICILIAN SURRE CTION . ^^/ vintelligence from Sicily is so confused !¦** " •' incomplete , that it is impossible tospecu-* && . < upon the probable result of the ins . ur-^ Vetion . Its success would imply the ruin of the Neapolitan monarchy ; its failure Tvould be a misfortune , hut would not imply the future submission of the island to the

      Bourbon rule . Indeed , it is by no means unlikely that a succession of partial revolts may take place before the general outburst of a war of independence in Italy . Setting aside , then , the details of the actual Sicilian movement , it becomes a vital question , whether the opportunity is . not close at hand for an attempt at Italian liberation . A signal from Sicily without a response from 3 STaples can

      We must accept an Italian war of independence as though it hadbeen already begun ; indeed , it may at any moment be in progress . Oar duty is , then , to press upon the Q-overnment to exercise no sinister influences in Sicily or the peninsula , to make no fallacious promises , to enter into no compacts inimical to the nation whose calamities we affect to deplore . " We may even insist—and if we used our power might give effect to our proposals—that England shall in no case , directly

      or indirectly , participate in Continental conflicts , unless upon the Liberal side . Let its hear no more of M into missions , or Genoese royalties . " Whatever governments may be set up in Sicily , Naples , Home , or Venice , Tve are bound to recognize , upon the principle which actuated the recognition of the French . Republic and the Bonaparte Empire . More

      thaa this may be done . Money may be supplied , by a national subscription , in aid of the independence of Italy . Such a subscription , as our readers are aware , is in active progress ; but it is now doubly necessary tliat the English Liberals should be prompt and generous . \ Vhatever be the issue of the movement in Sicily , it is certain that Italy is not far distant from a period of commotion .

      scarcely be imagined , unless we believe that the pressure enforced by the Swiss legionaries of the King is so rigid , that neither the disaffected national troops nor the oppressed population have discerned a chance of victory . If , however , the Neapolitan patriots have preferred not to recognize the Sicilian outbreak as a leading event , we may suppose them to have good reasons for

      their reserve . The Italians have too dearly learned the lesson of patience to throw away their power , and sacrifice their blood without a reasonable prospect of success . We do nofc anticipate , however , any very serious delay in the ripening of the great acheme that now includes among its promoters the moat intelligent patriots of alL classes , from the Alps to Sicily . The insurrection that has taken place may not be the commencement , but it is the prelude : it is a

      parallel to the irregular activity of 1847 , " which preceded the organized war and conflagration . Under such circumstances , what is the duty of the Italian people ? To be ready , to be bold , to bo unanimous , to trust no pretenders , to keep their cause unprofaned by violence , intrigue , and selfish ness ; above all , to act in concert , and not to flinch before danger . This counsel may be superfluous ; mit it is in Buch a spirit that we sympathize cordiall y with the champions of Italian independence . > The English nation may aid this good cause m the event of a general * Italian insurrection . It is utterly vain to recommend peace doctrines to the subjects of the King of Naples , the Austrian Emperor , and the Pope . They Mil \ not remain tranquil . The bayonet pointed at the breast ot Bomb a ia a declaration of war .

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      vigour enough to bellow . " Where would be the use of a sword-stick , or a pistol , or anv other instrument , for ex post fado defence ? Those who rely upon topical remedies for get the very position in which they stand towards the highwayman and housebreaker It is a constant race in the progress of civili zation . We discover new guards—sprint bolts , alarm-bells , iron shutters , patent lode ' s new police , plate safes ; but every step in the art of protection is onl y a premium for a new step in the art of depredation . Each improvement that we invent cheats us into a false reliance til the thief

      , un has found out the trick of circumventing the improvement ; and then we fall to make a new trap to ourselves by some fresh security . ' The invention of a more ingenious lock by Chubb , or Bbamah only calls into requisition a better workmanship in skeleton keys ; an iron , shutter is a stimulus for producing a superior kind of jemmy ; the advent of a Hobbs is accompanied by the development of an Agajs . You appoint guards on railways , and they become , as BTiitGEss did , the partners of the AaAHs . The streets are thought safe because they are crowded and the policeman is near ; but some very clever fellow strikes out the

      invention of the garotte , which afc once supersedes alarm and resistance . The fact is that the knave ' s civilization , has gone on quite as fast as the honest man ' s , in some respects much faster . Perhaps there was no period in which society could showsuch a large number of names in the Kogueii ' Peerage as England at the present moment . IVlr . Agak . belongs only to the middle class of roguery . The annals of high commerce can show us a " Windi / e Cole , a Cosmo Gordon

      CHEEK ' S " STUNNER" AND THE TRUE LIFE PHESERVER . Mb . Ciieee :, the eminent umbrella-malter , advertizes amongst his " useful and elegant presents , " a new kind of life preserver , intended to encounter the garotte . He calls it " the Stunner , " and we have no doubt that for tlie moderate price which he charges , " Tyburniensis , " " Saxon , " or any other

      gentleman who is nervous on the subject of metropolitan , highway robbery , will procure a very efficient weapon . The question ia , however , whether " Saxon , " who is just at present arming his person against tlie metropolitan and suburban higiiwaymen , and fortifying bis castle against the housebreaker , will have the qualifications for ¦ using ' Iris , weapon when he needs it . It is the common result

      of empirical remedies , that they ave only designed to meet the last stage of a disease , and that they fail because the patient lias already succximbed to the most fatal part of the malady . The man who combats gout with a lotion , for the skin , has suffered himself to be already killed from within ; and the man who lias relied upon a " stunner " for meeting a

      garottcr , is likely enough to find the lotion turned against himself . " We had an example the other day in the case of Mr . Buabluy , at Sheffield , whose bedroom was invaded by four housebreakers . They maltreated him and his wife , ransacked his drawers , imprisoned him in his bedroom , and quietly proceeded to rob the rest of the house . In the

      most cntLcal stage of his misery , Mr . Bhad-IjEY was lcept in awe by a man ' who stood at the foot of Iris bed with a revolver—the selfsame silver-mounted revolver which Mr . BiiADLEy had purchased for his own defence . A reckless use is made of the word " garotte , " which is now applied to every species of attack by surprise in the open streets or roads ; whereas ifc originated with a species of instrument intended for tho partial

      strangulation nnd stupefaction of tho passenger . it consisted , we believe , and still docs consist , when it is used , of a stiff double bow , —as if two yew bows wero tied together at the ends ; it ia opened by the robber , applied over the head of the unconscious passenger , and thus used as a mode of gently throttling him , with consequent congestion of the brain ; so that he is seized with temporary apoplexy before ho knows what he is about . How

      would a stunner apply in a case of this kind ? except tliat it might be used by a gnrotter to finish his work , should the patient still retain

      a Davibsox , a SadleiRj < fec . &c . " We have the list by heart . Eminent merchants , scions of noble families , Honourables , Members of Parliament , are reckoned amongst the swindlers , false pledgers , forgers , defaulters , and thieves . Yes , stealing is not unknown even amongst the aristocracy . In some of those notorious cases the real offence was the stealing of other people ' s property from the places of safety in which they had been reposed . Joseph Windle Cole stole men ' s monev

      under pretence of selling them ' securities on worthless paper . An eminent merchant told bis customer Davidson , that he was " a thief , " and undoubtedly tho word might be applied in other cases . The rogue therefore meets us in the counting-house which is ' safe as jthe Bank , ' in the . House of Commons , in tho lordly mansion . Undoubtedly , tho Jlogues' march has gone ahead much faster than the-march of civilization . " Tyburnieusis" tells us that knives , revolvers , and shutters are not enough , and he proposes a very sweeping measure

      "•" Society relies simply upon tho expedient or possible detection after the offence committed , and possible punishment after detection . I suggest , therefore , as a hint for -wiser nnd abler men than myself , whether , now that there are IG , 000 persons in London known to the police to be living systematically by robbery , some expedient is not desirable to restrain or curtail these wrotehes in then operations . For myself , I hold it to be better that t-wenty Mr . Mnrleye should be dismissed the world per week , aa Mr . Marley himself will bo shortly dismissed , rather than that one poor man sliould perish as poor Cope perislicil behind hia counter in Parliament-street , and I would visit all cases of robbery with violence , if not with death , at least remorselessly with life-long expatriation . IM

      none of tho 10 , 000 , of whom Mr . Marley -was a unit , arc really one whit bettor than lie , or deserving of move consideration . I say , therefore , it is not because a measure may appear harsh or severe that society has not ft ngiit to demand it for its protection . The 10 , 000 ought not to be considered in the matter at all . If it wero possible to tnlce them bodily nnd deposit them on a desert i 9 uv ™ i society would have tho right to do it . Tina , of course , ia not possible , but some strong nnd decisive measured , not remedial , but repressive , have become absolutely necessary if honest men and timorous women are to oo allowed to sleep peacefully in their beds , and I coniniemi tliat view of tho subject to thoso whose duty it » 3 t 0 Httcnd to it . "

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      j 1188 THE i / eADER . TNo . 351 . S ^ ed 4 t

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1856, page 1188, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2171/page/12/